This is episode #60 on The Science Behind a Meditation Practice with a Deep Dive into Dr. Dan Siegel’s Wheel of Awareness. 

Welcome to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, my name is Andrea Samadi, I’m a former educator whose been fascinated with understanding the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports and the workplace and created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, whether you are a teacher in the classroom, a parent trying to figure out homeschooling and working from home,  or someone working in the corporate world, to take your results to the next level.  After watching Dr. Daniel Siegel the past few weeks on his “Pep Me Up Talks”[i]  where he shares with an audience around the world about his books, tools and resources like the “Wheel of Awareness Meditation”[ii] that I’ve been using every day since preparing for his interview last year, I thought it was important to cover a deep dive into this topic to bring in the science behind meditation, to increase belief and credibility behind these practices that are now commonly seen in our schools, homes and workplaces.  We did cover the topic of meditation for beginners with Mindfulness and Meditation Expert Mick Neustadt in episode #25 with “How Meditation and Mindfulness Changes Your Life”[iii] if you want to review that episode. 

I have been following Dr. Dan Siegel since 2015, reading his books, and learning from his resources, and on the interview I had with him for episode #28 on “Mindsight: The Basis for Social and Emotional Intelligence”[iv] (close to the end of the interview) we talk about what I have been learning from doing the meditation tool that he created. At the time—in October 2019, I had been doing his meditation every morning for 2 months. You can see this part of the interview here at (42:52)[v] where he asks me what I have learned from this practice, and although I downloaded this activity, and explored the Wheel in 2015, I didn’t start doing it daily until I was preparing for his interview, because I knew he would ask me what I had learned from this practice, and when I first tried it, and in the beginning, I honestly found it a bit advanced and confusing and didn’t want to tell him that so I put in some extra effort to understand it. If you have not yet tried “The Wheel of Awareness”[vi] Meditation, please do go to the link and download it, so you can see the image of the wheel, and try it out. This episode might make more sense once you do that and if you feel like I did in the beginning, don’t worry, it’s now been 8 months of practicing this daily and I’m just starting to figure out how to explain it now, so just try it and see what benefits you notice.

I wanted to share Dan’s findings of asking thousands of people around the world, over the years first.  If you have ever heard him talking about the Wheel of Awareness, you will know that the idea came to him when he bought a custom-made round table for his office so that his patients didn’t have to sit at a regular table. His mediation has evolved over the years as he has shared it with experts, and those who hold scientific evidence of the benefits of incorporating a daily meditation into your routine and life. If you are listening to this podcast, you will want to look at the image of the wheel in the show notes so you can physically see each of the segments I’m going to describe. In his book, Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence, Dr. Siegel explains that there are research-based elements of mind training that should include 3 pillars: focused attention, open awareness and kind intentions towards others.[vii] This practice involves all 3 of these pillars and profound changes happen with the body when you do mind training. He also explains that a 3-pillar meditation practice (like his Wheel) changes the structure and function of the brain in these fascinating ways:

1. There’s an integration of structure and function of the brain (integration means well-being).

Who wouldn’t want these benefits? The science is clear and proves that implementing a daily meditation practice improves your physical and mental health with many more benefits we will explore further.

Here's How Dr. Dan Siegel Breaks Down Each Segment of The Wheel of Awareness

Segment 1: The 5 Senses: Dan explains that we must send the “spoke of awareness” which is just another way of saying to focus on one of the senses at a time, to each of the 5 senses of hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch. With each sense, we move the spoke, so we are actively thinking and feeling about the data we are bringing from the outside world into our awareness, with each sense.

Segment 2: The 6th Sense/Bodily Sensations/Neuroception/Interoception: With this part, Dan takes us from head to toe, giving us access to the wisdom from within our body. This part helps us to become more aware of our organs, bones and muscles, and are probably parts of our body that we have rarely ever put our focused attention towards.

Segment 3: The 7th Sense or our Mental Activities

I’ve divided this segment into 3 parts to make this easier to understand.

PART A: This is where Dan asks us to bring any thought or memory into our awareness and see what happens. He reassures us that many things may come, or nothing at all. For me, this segment took some time, and when a thought finally did come, I just used this part of the meditation to solve problems I might be having, to see what kinds of solutions I might be able to think of on my own.

PART B: Now Dan asks us to examine the thought that comes in and pay attention to how it presents itself. Was it sudden? Did it vibrate or slide in? And how does this thought leave our awareness? Is it replaced by another mental activity or thought, and if not, what does the space feel like? To me, this part was really deep, and I could think of a thought, and strong thoughts would vibrate, but I don’t think I’m advanced enough yet to describe this any further.

PART C: Now he asks us to bend the spoke in the hub and just rest in pure awareness. This is where we feel fully alive, present and focused. I never really understood why he was asking us to bend the spoke, until I heard him explain it another way recently.[viii] If you have access to the show notes, look at the 3-P Diagram of State of Mind and see the shaded area under the x axis with a new axis called the z-axis. This shaded area represents awareness and it made more sense to me imagining the bended spoke, to create this shaded area. This part of the meditation many people talk about a feeling of peace, calmness and energy. This is where Dan explains that physics comes in to explain that “energy is movement from possibility to actuality” (the definition he got from asking quantum physicists what exactly energy is).  So, when we are in this part of the meditation, we can gain access to energy, peace, calmness, ideas and possibility.  This is what I have heard many people say is the reason why they meditate in the first place.

Segment 4: Our sense of connection to others. This is the final segment of the meditation where Dan asks us to focus on those who are physically close to us, friends or family, those in our community, city, state, country and around the world. This part of the practice allows us to feel a connection to others as we sent wishes of well-being towards other people in the world. This part is powerful as it really does help us to focus outside of ourselves and put some energy towards others. It’s just like sending prayers to everyone in the world you can think of.

I had some thoughts about this practice, specifically with the first segment where we strengthen our five senses. It made me think of the work I learned in the late 1990s through the speaker Bob Proctor, who taught me to live beyond my 5 senses, using the Higher Faculties of the Mind which are the will, intuition, reason, perception, memory and our imagination. This would be an episode on its own, but as we are strengthening parts of our mind, I think it’s important to include these higher faculties.

Andrea's Findings From the Wheel of Awareness Meditation

So, here’s what I learned after just 2 months of actively listening to this 30-minute meditation. I’m going on 8 months now of doing this practice daily, and the findings are more noticeable now than when he first asked me and I’m sure that another year from now, I will have a deeper understanding. I noticed:

1. An Increase of Focused Attention with the 5 Senses: and that my awareness expanded with an increase in focused attention (which really helped to focus while working from home). Where your focus goes, energy flows, and what we are putting our attention on, grows, so you can imagine that doing this every day will increase awareness, and sensations within our 5 senses of hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch.

There is much more that we can say on this topic, and I know that with time, practice and as my own awareness increases, I will have a deeper understanding the 4 segments of the Wheel of Awareness.

I would love to know what you think. What insights do you see at each segment?

I look forward to your thoughts and will see you on episode 61.

RESOURCES:

[i] Dr. Dan Seigel “Pep Me Up Talks” https://www.crowdcast.io/e/PEPPTalk/5?utm_source=Mindsight%20Institute%20Master%20List&utm_campaign=8ccdbf6436-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_02_28_01_08_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_562796b3c8-8ccdbf6436-300769001

[ii] https://www.drdansiegel.com/resources/wheel_of_awareness/

[iii] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast #25 with Mindfulness and Meditation Expert Mick Neustadt on “How Meditation and Mindfulness Changes Your Life” https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mindfulness-meditation-expert-mick-neustadt-on-how/id1469683141?i=1000453919865

[iv] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast #28 with Dr. Daniel Siegel on “Mindsight: The Basis for Social and Emotional Intelligence”  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/clinical-professor-psychiatry-at-ucla-school-medicine/id1469683141?i=1000456048761

[v] YouTube interview of Andrea Samadi with Dr. Dan Siegel on The Wheel of Awareness Meditation Findings (42:52) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7pnea2Vbzc&list=PLb5Z3cA_mnKhiYc5glhacO9k9WTrSgjzW&index=21&t=0s

[vi] https://www.drdansiegel.com/resources/wheel_of_awareness/

[vii] Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence by Daniel J Siegel, MD Published August 21, 2018 Tarcher Perigee 

https://www.amazon.com/Aware-Practice-Presence-Groundbreaking-Meditation/dp/1101993049

[viii] Dr. Dan Seigel “Pep Me Up Talks” https://www.crowdcast.io/e/PEPPTalk/5?utm_source=Mindsight%20Institute%20Master%20List&utm_campaign=8ccdbf6436-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_02_28_01_08_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_562796b3c8-8ccdbf6436-300769001

[ix] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #59 with Suzanne Gundersen on “Putting The Polyvagal Theory into Practice” https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/suzanne-gundersen-on-putting-polyvagal-theory-into/id1469683141?i=1000473826604

This is episode #59 with Suzanne Gundersen. You can watch the interview with graphics here on YouTube. 

Thanks for tuning into the podcast today! I’m always excited about the guests we bring on here, as each person has achieved high levels of success in their field and I know they can help others by sharing their knowledge. Our next guest is an expert in a topic that has been on my reading list the past year. When I was speaking with Suzanne Gundersen and she mentioned her life’s work has been based on putting Dr. Stephen Porges’[i], Polyvagal Theory into practice, I stopped what I was doing and asked if she could tell me more about this.  

For the past year, I’ve been watching trainings from Deb Dana[ii] (whose mentor was Dr. Porges) and just bought her book The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy[iii] and had written down that I wanted to interview an expert on the Polyvagal Theory. Plus, I have heard Dr. Lori Desautels mention Dr. Porges’ work the past year, and so  I wasn’t surprised when an expert showed up. If you are new this work, like me, you would know why I would be looking for an expert to explain this theory. Someone who could in simple terms explain what we must all understand about our Central Nervous System when it comes to managing our stress response. These days this understanding is more important than ever before and this is exactly what Suzanne does with two tracks, first is stress education (the science of stress) and secondly, she speaks about nervous system with regulation techniques.

Welcome Suzanne, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today to share your knowledge, and programs on such an important topic. Like we spoke about, there are many layers to this theory, and at first glance of all the notes I have taken on it, I still can’t explain it very well. Thanks for helping us break down this theory so we can think about how it can apply for our teachers in the classroom, for us as parents working from home, as well as for those who want to apply this idea in the workplace.

Q1: What is “Polyvagal?" and why is this theory so important for us to understand these days?  Answer is that it's the science of safety and connection, a map for living our most modern survival strategy, social engagement.  Porges theory shows how our evolution has delivered us to human form where our unique communication abilities offers us possibilities for secure and deeply meaningful connections to survive and thrive. 

Q2: I actually have 2 version of the polyvagal chart (one you sent to me) and what we must know to remap our nervous system as dysregulation occurs. I got the first chart from Dr. Lori Desautels last October when I attended one of her live trainings. Can you give an overview of the Polyvagal chart and what’s happening at each level with the Ventral Vegal (safety), Sympathetic (danger) and Dorsal Vegal (Life Threat) stages so we can recognize these stages in ourselves and others? 

Crash course on neuroscience three branches most modern VV, then SNS, then PNS, and in order to understand it we have to go way back to when we were fish, strategy to freeze, then amphibians with legs to fight/flight, then humans to communicate.   We automatically respond to stress, hierarchically, start with most modern first then use more ancient strategies to keep us alive.  When we sense threat, our first reaction is to is to look to another for safe connection to help us know we are safe, we look for facial cues, tone of voice, regulated heart beat, if we don’t receive what we need to know safety and connection, we revert to SNS (mobilization), if doesn’t satisfy, then to PNS freeze.  Each stage has a co-relating stress symptoms and body system status (SNS- charged system- increase heart, breath, blood to limbs), SNS- systems release/go limp (drop bowls). 

Q3: We have been talking on past episodes on the responsibility we have as parents and professionals to keep ourselves regulated (or in the green zone of your chart) but how do we do this? What are some suggestions/strategies that you offer when day to day stress hits us—strategies we could do at work, home or in the classroom? – get ourselves regulated, to be able to offer /hold presence space for children to be in their moment.  Vagal toning…. Quick inhale/long exhale, hold breath, hum, ommm, squeeze/release, shake and twist body, pound thymus, drum.== what really doing is restoring natural rhythm to vagus nerve.  When we’re stressed ,it’s like a hiccup to the body systems, these techniques restore rhythm.

Q4: I heard the term “neuroception” from Stefanie Faye[iv], who did EPISODE #39 with us on “Using Neuroscience to Improve Mindset, Self-Regulation and Self-Awareness.” She explained this term means that we must get better at sensing what’s happening in the body, the environment and between two people in relationship with each other. Can you explain how neuroception can help us to understand ourselves and others better with the polyvagal theory in mind?

Neuroception is a word Porges made up to deepen the word ‘perception’ to include more of an intuitive sensing component to it.  Our ANS responds automatically and if responded through perception could infer a mental awareness, when our response is faster than our mind.  So, neuroception is about our intuitive sensing of our surroundings so we know if we need to react to threat or if we can be immobile without fear.  To understand this let’s chat about animals.  Animals attack each other for food or control.  As humans, we too are animals and while some humans fight each other for blood our dominant evolution is to connect. Neuroception helps us know/intuit who is safe to connect and be immobile without fear.  And that if we’re threatened, to use language to communicate to resolve threat.  It’s our evolution potential ,however you can imagine we’re still working on it.  

Q5: What are some of the healing modalities that you have seen used to help with stress relief? Top down (talk therapy) vs bottom up (integrating the mind and body). What popular strategies are you seeing today?

Traditionally we’ve been so focused on the mind, talk therapy, mindset work, as the western way of managing stress.  While that top down approaches are still valid, so many are opening up to whole mind/body solutions. 

Let’s visual a brain…. Stem – instinct (body) , then limbic- memory, emotions then pre-frontal cortext – thinking mind.  Top down would be to start with the pre-frontal cortex, like CBT, Talk Therapy, Mindfulness, Mindset, Hypnosis, Meditation.  Bottom up would be to start with the body/NS patterns – TRE, myofascial release, yoga, breath work, SE.    Then there are some that meet in the Limbic middle, Tapping, EMDR.  Every modality works, however some need to start with more body work / brain stem & NS to be regulated enough to relate within the limbic system and then rationally access the reasoning of the pre-frontal cortex thinking mind.  This is why some people can’t meditate, they just aren’t regulated enough to sit with their dysregulated systems and distracting emotional habits to be present and calm.  

STORY: When I was preparing my questions for you, I did see that you mention Energy Tapping as one of your bottom up models for stress reduction. I have to tell a quick story, because I learned energy tapping back in 2001 when I met a doctor from Singapore (Dr Joseph Guan)[v] who came to the US and was doing some teaching on what they were doing Internationally. Of course, I attended his seminar, and learned all about the meridian points, and how it worked, and began using it right away--mostly to build up my resilience and mental strength. This doctor was well-known, respected and at the time was working with Dr. Bruce Lipton[vi], an American developmental biologist who is well-known in this field today. So here’s my story-back when I worked in the corporate world, in educational publishing, a sales manager heard about energy tapping from a TV show and she approached me to see what I thought. She wanted to know “Did I know what it was, could this concept help the sales team, was I using this idea myself, and could I present this idea to the sales team in our next weekly meeting?” All of the answers were yes. Of course, if there was a strange, new productivity strategy, people would ask me first if I had heard about it.

So, here I am, in the front of my sales team (a mix of males and females) and introducing the success strategy of the week as energy tapping, and I will never forget the look on their faces. They seriously were not ready for a strategy like this. I knew they all thought I was crazy, and they did. It really didn’t matter if the strategy was making the news, would improve their results in sales and increase the company’s revenue, the sales team wouldn’t do it. That was definitely one of many ideas that I tried to introduce to the corporate world that I would say I was ahead of the time for. How have things changed as you see it? How does the Corporate World now embrace these new stress reduction modalities like energy tapping? I know this modality has received criticism and some people have felt it lacked scientific evidence, but there are clearly many studies now showing its effectiveness[vii]. 

Great story, I can relate.  When I started sharing Tapping with others around that time, they thought I was crazy, however I think the collective consciousness is waking up, physically, emotionally and mentally and realizing they want to move from coping to thriving which is opening the door more and more to tapping.  More common these days for companies to have wellness programs that include mindbody programs full of yoga, breathwork/meditation.  Tapping is slowly making its way in the US, thanks to Ortner’s great marketing work on the technique however many still don’t understand it or how to easily put it to use.  My ACE system solves that problem and I’ve been sharing it with my corporate peers who are open minded and willing.  

Q6: Can you provide some other example of bottom up models for stress relief?

There are many traditional and holistic modalities out there and they all work, the question is to find what will work for you.   I like to start with the body because it makes sense in terms of the brain’s evolution.  Massage, Yoga, Vagal Toning exercises or practitioner led TRE, SE to discharge the tension and overwhelm.  It’s not a one size fits all, but start trying them and see what fits and once you found it, work it with persistency. 

Q7: Is there anything else that you think is important that we might have missed?

We’re living in very transformative times, with the world as we know it dismantling in front of us, threatening our ‘normal’ lives.  That threat has us living in stress, which is to live in survival energy.  The evolution of our mind has taken it away from the body and we are dis-integrated.    Our integrated evolution has been stunted and why the Earth has hit a reset button for us to come back to the body, back to basics.  We need to retrain our nervous system from the value we put on busyness to the value of restoration.  We have a huge opportunity now to deeply connect within to know ourselves and share that authentic version with the village we choose to surround ourselves, that makes us feel safe and that we belong, for who we truly are.  Polyvagal Theory helps us understand our evolution and our potential for living with genuine aliveness.

RESOURCES:

If someone wants to learn more about Suzanne’s programs and services, go to www.transformedconnections.com to learn more and gain access to a FREE 30 minute consultation.

REFERENCES:

[i] https://www.stephenporges.com/

[ii] Deb Dana https://www.rhythmofregulation.com/

[iii] The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy by Deb Dana Foreword by Stephen Porges (Norton and Company, 2018)  https://www.amazon.com/Polyvagal-Theory-Therapy-Interpersonal-Neurobiology/dp/0393712370/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1585756602&sr=1-2

[iv] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #39 with Stefanie Faye on “Using Neuroscience to Improve Mindset, Self-Regulation and Self-Awareness”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/neuroscience-researcher-stefanie-faye-on-using-neuroscience-to-improve-our-mindset-self-regulation-and-self-awareness/

[v] https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-joseph-guan-5156a23/

[vi] https://www.brucelipton.com/

[vii] https://www.thetappingsolution.com/science-research/

This is episode #58 with James MacDiarmid and Natasha Davis. Thanks for tuning into the podcast today! I’m always excited about the guests we bring on here, as each person has achieved high levels of success in their field and I know they can help others by sharing their knowledge. Our guests today hit a chord with me when I saw their work because their vision, and my vision are 100% aligned. You can watch the interview on YouTube here. 

A few years ago, I couldn’t stop thinking about a thought I had of teaching social and emotional learning skills via virtual reality.  I had some prominent virtual reality companies that I had been following and put up on my wall, with the vision that maybe someday, we would see students learning SEL via these new modes of learning that were highly engaging.  I had an image of what the lessons would look like (I could see a forest with students choosing different paths and learning new skills with each pathway that they took). For example, if they made a life decision, it would give them the opportunity to see the effects of this decision and see the reality of “if I do this, this will happen” showing them the consequences of their actions. After my interview with David Adams[i], (episode #54) I received a message on LinkedIn from James MacDiarmid (who had heard David’s podcast) about a potential next guest for the show with a video link for me to learn more about what our next guest had created. When I finally had a chance to watch the video, I have to say, I was blown away. This was the vision I had for SEL brought to life. I watched a walkthrough of a virtual reality lesson from the Wise: Emotional Fitness program and there was even a forest in the video. I wrote back to James with tears in my eyes, that yes, I want to learn more and before I know it, I’m speaking with James from Curiious[ii] - that’s with two ii’s- in Australia via video conference about the Wise program. 

And here we are today.  Let me give you more background on James and Natasha.

James has extensive experience in education, learning design and consultancy, with a passion for new technologies and enacting transformational change across whole-school systems.

He is a published author, contributing writer for TEDx and was a co-creator for PlayFutures, with the LEGO Foundation[iii] where they focus on bringing learning through play to children around the world. After a few minutes of speaking with James, his passion for building authentic learning opportunities and inspiring future generations came through loud and clear.

Natasha[iv], who James explained was the heart and sole of the program, is a clinical psychologist with over 15 years experience designing, researching and implementing emotion regulation and relationship building programs for adolescents and adults. She is the Director of a community-based clinic and has held many leadership positions in private and non-profit sectors. Natasha was the lead subject-matter expert during the development of this truly innovative program.

Welcome James and Natasha.  

Thank you so much for being here, and sharing what you have created, all the way from Australia where it’s already Monday morning over there for you. 

I wanted to learn more about the Wise Program and have some questions for you.

Q1: The first question is for Natasha. First of all, congratulations on what you have created. I think it is purely brilliant. Can you explain where this vision began for you?

Q2: What is the methodology behind this program?

'Designed for impact, Wise uses an Inside-Out methodology which equips participants with the practical skills to build strong connections from themselves (Inside) to others and the world around them (Outside). This is enhanced by the blended learning context whereby learning within virtual reality (Inside) is reinforced through the verbal and written self-reflective process, and teaching others the techniques (Outside).

With our emotions being like the engine of the car, individuals are shown how to adjust and “steer” their reactions by understanding how to “tune into” their emotions, better understand the “mechanics” of their emotional system and know how to “rev up” or “slow down” their emotional responses where needed, or even “brake” if they are about to do something dangerous or damaging. These skills are practiced and reinforced to build confidence in managing more complex emotional and relational situations. 

Students are further supported through the Wise adult programs and resources which provide skills and resources to the adults in their lives. Educators, coaches, mentors, parents, guardians or other caring adults can learn skills and strategies through the program. Educators have additional training through professional development programs which assist them to learn the skills and facilitate student learning. Adults can take these skills and strategies into the home, workplace and broader community activities. 

This whole system approach ensures that each individual’s learning is supported by and contributes to the systems that they live in. This is the Wise Learning Ecosystem.'

Q3: James, I know you are the educational advisor to the program, can you give some background of all that you are doing to ensure that Wise is evidence-based, aligned to Casel.org’s SEL competencies, and universal curriculum requirements?

Q4: Who are some of the influencers of this program that you have spoken with? How have they influenced your work?

Q5: What has been the feedback you are receiving from educators/students using the program?

Research with FM Labs at ICA. Preliminary results/study with students during the initial development phase have indicated that there is a great amount that can be taken from this not just this approach but also the material covered throughout the program itself.

Q6: What is your vision for the Wise program?

All kids, parents, teachers, coaches have access to these emotional regulation skills to improve the emotional fitness of each individual and those who support them.  Whole school systemic change. 

Q7: Can you give us some more background on the company Curiious? If someone wants to learn more, what’s the best way?

'Curiious is a creative communication company. For more than 20 years, we have used creativity & technology to solve problems, grow businesses and challenge traditional methods of communication. With offices in Sydney, Hong Kong, Los Angeles and New York, we create story-driven immersive experiences, backed by the latest technology, innovative design and strategic thinking to captivate, inspire and educate audiences.'

To contact James you can email him at [email protected] and Natasha is [email protected]

Thank you both so much for taking the time to speak with me today, and for creating such an innovative program to help young people develop into the responsible citizens that we all hope for our next generation. We do look forward to following your progress and hope this interview will lead as an introduction to connect you with schools and educators who want to learn more about this innovative VR emotional fitness program. Thanks so much.

RESOURCES:

The Wise SEL/ Emotional Fitness Program Walk-Through 

REFERENCES:

[i] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #54 David Adams on “A New Vision of Education: Living Up to the Values We Want for Our Next Generation” https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/director-sel-david-adams-on-new-vision-education-living/id1469683141?i=1000471762331

[ii] https://curiious.com/about-us/

[iii] https://www.legofoundation.com/en/what-we-do/playfutures/

[iv] https://clinpsychcentre.com.au/profile/natasha-davis/

This is episode #57 on “Taking Initiative, Your Brain and Change and Leveraging Mentors”

Welcome back to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, my name is Andrea Samadi, I’m a former educator whose been fascinated with understanding the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports and the workplace for the past 20 years. Since you are listening to this podcast, I’m sure you are like me, and love to learn, grow, challenge yourself and always are looking for that competitive edge, these days more so than usual, I’m sure. This weekend I had a phone call from Marissa Leinert from Parent Led Academy[i] an organization helping parents to improve their skills at being better parents using social and emotional learning resources. She contacted me via LinkedIn and asked if she could brainstorm some ideas with me on the direction of her business, since she is just starting out this field. I told her to call me and sent her my number because when people take the initiative to reach out, asking for help, I think it’s important to lend a hand, share ideas, contacts and resources if you have them, and collaborate.

When we finally connected, we chatted about where she was with her company and I thought back to 20 years ago when I first wrote down the idea that turned into Achieveit360’s programs and services for schools and the workplace, and eventually this podcast. I remembered all of the people who helped me to get to where I am today and thought of a quote by Robin Sharma who said that “Everything is created twice, first in the mind and then in reality.”  

If you are like Marissa, and have been thinking about an idea that you want to pursue, maybe a new direction for your career, a new product that you want to create, or something and you just aren’t sure of even where to begin, this episode is for you.  This episode will focus on some key starting points so you can follow the steps and get moving with something new. Whatever idea you have, that you might be thinking about, start with writing it out, and then expand on your vision by writing down some ideas and see where you can begin to take action. I was lucky enough to have met some of the top leaders in the country who shared their secrets with me over 20 years ago when I first started and I felt that since I had this opportunity, that I had an obligation to take action with the strategies and tips they shared with me. Now that I am being asked more often, how did you get started with this idea, I thought I would share with you the process that I used and hope you find these ideas helpful.

Step 1: “Know Your Why” Which Also Can Be Seen as “Know Your Values”

Simon Sinek[ii] built his career from this idea and before starting anything new, I always suggest revisiting Simon’s “Golden Circle”[iii] where he talks about the importance of knowing your “Why, Your Purpose, What You Believe.” If everyone in your organization knows this for themselves, then it will be easy to motivate each person towards the common organizational goal.  Before any pivot you make, go back and look at your purpose and make sure the new direction aligns to this your why, purpose or values.  The “How” or your process will come easy once you’ve identified your “Why” and the “What” you do, or end result will naturally follow. 

What you believe can also be seen as your values. Once you know the values that are important to you and your organization, everything else becomes crystal clear.

For me, I know that we believe that well-being equals achievement and productivity, (with physical and mental health being my #1 value).  Everything we create/market/sell/produce must help improve well-being that will lead to an increase of productivity, achievement and results.  What are your highest values? Go back and listen to episode 2 “Self-Awareness: Know Thyself”[iv] where we dive deeper into uncovering your values or what’s important in your personal and professional life to ensure happiness.  

Remember: To “know thyself” is the most substantial achievement we can have in our lifetime.” Jim Rohn, an American author, speaker and entrepreneur reminds us that “The major value in life is not what you get. It’s what you become.” 

Step 2: Recognize the “Change Barrier” and the Need for Safety in Your Brain

This topic is something that we aren’t taught in school so many of us when faced with trying something new, or pivoting to a new direction, are hit with what I write about in the Level Up[v] book (lesson 7) called “The Change Barrier.” It’s the fear that hits us from a subconscious level when we begin a new idea. Whenever there is a major shift in your life, you will find yourself face-to-face with this “Change Barrier” that’s like a brick wall and wants to keep you safe, in your old world. When you are making a decision and you start to feel that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach, recognize this as hitting the “Change Barrier.” Your entire central nervous system goes off as you think about the new thought or idea in your conscious mind, that challenges you to do something you have never done before.  You might have some automatic negative thoughts that cross your mind that say things like “who are you to try something new, don’t waste your time, this idea didn’t work the last time you tried it” or something like that. You will need to have strategies in place to help you to move past this stage in the direction of your goals, instead of quitting, that will happen if you don’t properly prepare.

Remember that the panic you feel is real. What’s actually happening, is the amygdala (in your limbic/emotional brain) begins to fire when it’s recognizing that something is an actual or perceived threat. The amygdala acts like a thermostat and fires as stress and anxiety rise. High levels of stress hormone cortisol flood your body and it tries to get you to stop taking the actions that are causing the anxiety and go back to safety or your old world.  You can either keep going and move beyond the fear or go back to safety and comfort. That feeling doesn’t go away until with time and practice we have infused the new idea into our brain, creating the new neural pathway of this new idea, and we finally get to that place of freedom, where we no longer feel uncomfortable with the new idea. We have bypassed fear and anxiety and stepped forward, to growth.

This one takes some self-awareness as well, as years into your new role, it is common to have doubts and fears around this new position. I remember speaking to a very successful CEO of a large company, and he shared with me that there are many days he sits at his desk and marvels at how someone with his background could have reached the heights of success that he was living on a daily basis. It’s important to remember to integrate your success into your new life. Celebrate your small and large wins, so that they sink in at the non-conscious level in your brain. On those few days that you experience self-doubt, take a break and do something that you enjoy. Be kind to yourself and remember that you do deserve everything that you have earned.

Step 3: Find Your Mentors

I was lucky enough to have crossed paths with some powerful thinkers in my late 20s who got me started on this journey of creating, developing and launching new ideas.  Speaking with Marissa this weekend, reminded me that at this point in many of our lives, we are thinking of new ways of conducting business. If we were used to doing live trainings in the past, many of us have adapted to online training.  If we have never done this before, we will want to look for mentors to help us to gain the confidence we need with our new business models. With confidence, we build competence with our new skills and eventually they become second nature.

If you say “well, I don’t know any powerful leaders to ask for their advice” don’t quit just yet. Keep looking and as you might have heard before, “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”

Stay 4: Keep an Open Mind In 2014 when I was looking to take my programs and services online, like many people are doing now, I found a mentor to show me everything I needed to know and he was unlike anyone I had ever worked with in the past. His name is Austin Walsh[vi], and at the time, he was a high school student living in Chicago. I had to wait for him to finish classes to return my calls, as he worked with me over Skype on creating the membership area of my website where all of our content is hosted. He had worked with some of the speakers I knew (Les Brown and Mark Victor Hansen from the Chicken Soup for the Soul books) so he came highly recommended and I’m still amazed at how this then-16-year-old knew so much about the online world. I learned so much from him and would still say he’s one of my most memorable mentors.

Step 5: Manage Your Relationships In my late 20s, I was fortunate to have met many world leaders when I worked in the motivational speaking industry. Always stay in contact with people you meet as you never know who will continue to impact you in your future.

One powerful influencer I met in 2001 was Greg Link, who partnered with Stephen Covey to form CoveyLink.org and co-author “Smart Trust: The Defining Skill That Transforms Managers into Leaders.”[vii] He saw my interest in youth development while he was very busy building the Covey empire and taking the “7 Habits of Highly Effective People[viii]” book to impact millions of people worldwide, but I kept in touch with him over the years. He always was there with ideas, business model suggestions for my programs for the school market, and just plain inspiration to keep going. It’s been a few years since I have seen Greg, but as I was writing the outline for this episode this past weekend, I heard from Greg via Linkedin and it made me realize the importance of keeping in touch with your connections and then helping others (like Marissa) who need your help. See Greg’s testimonial of our work 7 years ago.[ix]

Step 6: Be Open to Ongoing Learning When you surround yourself with others who put value on learning/growth, you will inherit new ideas that you can implement for your own business growth. There is always someone who has done what you are looking to do, and with success, so keep learning, attending conferences (when they are back up and running) and networking with those people you see leading in your field.

Before I launched the Level Up [x]program for the school market, I attended a class called the “Make, Market and Launch It[xi]” based on the book by Pam Hendrickson and Mike Koenigs.  If you are looking to launch a product, I highly recommend this book that you can get right away on Amazon. You will learn the 7 most important steps to making or creating your product, and then launching it to the market of your choice.

Always think about the problem that you are looking to solve which is Shark Tank’s Robert Herjavec’s #1 tip for entrepreneurs.[xii] He suggests that the best businesses are ones that “find a problem and then solve it.”

Once you have created your product (whether it’s a book, online course) or whatever it might be, then get feedback from your audience. Don’t ask your sister or your Mom for their feedback—they will lie. Be prepared for someone to tell you it’s awful, ugly, the worst idea ever, and listen to what they say. Take that feedback to improve what you have created 

I hope you have found these 6 tips useful. I would love to hear what you think. Send me a message through LinkedIn, or Twitter, and I look forward to seeing you on the next episode with an exciting new guest from Australia. See you soon.

REFERENCES:

[i] Parent Led Academy an SEL  Resource to Help Parents Improve Their Skills https://parentledacademy.org/

[ii] Simon Sinek https://simonsinek.com/commit/start-with-why/

[iii] https://www.freshworks.com/freshsales-crm/resources/summary-of-start-with-why-blog/

[iv] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #2 “Self-Awareness: Know Thyself” https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/self-awareness-know-thyself/id1469683141?i=1000443474075

[v] Level Up: A Brain-Based Strategy to Skyrocket Student Success and Achievement by Andrea Samadi (Wheatmark, 2015) https://www.amazon.com/Level-Up-Brain-Based-Skyrocket-Achievement/dp/1627872647

[vi] Austin William Walsh  https://www.facebook.com/pg/walsh.austin/posts/

[vii] Smart Trust: The Defining Skill That Transforms Managers into Leaders by Stephen Covey and Greg Link https://www.amazon.com/Smart-Trust-Defining-Transforms-Managers/dp/1451652178

[viii] 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_7_Habits_of_Highly_Effective_People

[ix] Greg Link Testimonial of Achieveit360 and Andrea Samadi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_z_d6iBdfw

[x]  Level Up Online by Andrea Samadi https://www.achieveit360.com/level-up-online/

[xi] Make, Market Launch It by Pam Hendrickson and Mike Koenigs (2013) https://www.amazon.com/Make-Market-Launch-Ultimate-Creation-ebook/dp/B00B9JKODO

[xii] Shark Tank’s Robert Herjavec’s Top 5 Business Tips for Entrepreneurs (May 16, 2019) by Abby Narishkin and Jack Houston  https://www.businessinsider.com/shark-tank-robert-herjavec-top-business-tips-entrepreneurs-2019-5

This is episode #56 with Dr. Lori Desautels, a returning guest who I know everyone loves as much as I do. If you want to hear our first interview with Lori, go back and listen to episode 16[i] with Lori and Michael McKnight on “The Future of Educational Neuroscience in our Schools and Communities.” To watch this interview on YouTube, click here. 

Welcome to the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning podcast, my name is Andrea Samadi, I’m a former educator whose been fascinated with understanding the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports and the workplace and created this podcast to bring the most current neuroscience research, along with high performing experts who have risen to the top of their field with specific strategies or ideas that you can implement immediately, whether you are a teacher or student in the classroom, or working in the corporate world, to take your results to the next level.  

Thanks for tuning into the podcast today! If this is your first time here, I am so grateful that you have taken the time to listen. Today I am thrilled at the opportunity to speak with Dr. Lori Desautels for the second time.

I first found Lori from her TEDx Talk from Indianapolisi when I was searching for anything in the field on educational neuroscience back in 2014 and watched her videos to understand how parts of the brain worked, how they are interconnected and impact learning. In Lori’s Ted Talk, she mentioned that “neuroscience and education have come together” and it’s a huge connection because every day experiences change the brain structurally and functionally—and I thought, this is incredible that we can finally explain how we can accelerate learning with this understanding of the brain.  Over the years as I’ve continue my research in this field, each person I speak with points me back to Lori Desaultel as a pioneer in this field. Her work is groundbreaking as she ties the research into these practices that we must all learn to stay at the height of our productivity and achievement. 

Welcome Lori, thank you so much for coming back on as a returning guest. 

I feel like we are old friends now that I had the chance to see you speak live this past October, and with the fact you are sharing your new book with me in real time as you are writing it. I’ve been reading it as you are sending the chapters and emotions really are contagious. Before we dive into the questions, can you tell me more about why this book is so timely, and maybe a bit about the work you are doing on a day to day basis for the field of education. 

1- Your new book “Connections Over Compliance, Rewiring Our Perceptions of Discipline” begins with exploring this new perception of discipline with educator and parent brain state. I wish I knew this when I stood in front of my first class as a new teacher (in Toronto in the late 1990s) wondering why no one was listening, and watched their behavior escalate to where I started to count down the days till the school year was over. I had no idea where to even begin...and never would have thought of—with myself. Can you explain why we must “look under the hood at our own brain state” when we are teaching or relating to others?

Q2-Im so grateful that brain research is helping us to gain a deeper understanding of how to improve our results, achievement and learning and that leaders like you are spear heading the way with this understanding. How can we better understand a regulated vs dysregulated brain state? These are not terms I was taught in my teacher training classes over 20 years ago. In a perfect world, everyone would be able to recognize when they are becoming dysregulated with strategies to get themselves back on course. What work still needs to happen for this awareness? 

Q3- I learned about Dr. Bruce Perry from you, and a couple of our most recent podcasts focus on his research. You quote him in the beginning of your book when he states that “The key to the success of any educational experience is the capacity to ‘get to the cortex.’ Yet, each year, nearly one-third of all children attending U.S. public schools will have significantly impaired cortical functioning and behavioral challenges due to abuse, neglect, domestic violence, poverty, and other adversities.”2 How are teachers expected to teach if this is the case? How can we bring more awareness to your work so that teachers can better prepare themselves for these experiences, so they come in with self-regulation strategies that they use like clockwork? 

What about these strategies for parents? I can pick out a handful of times that I’ve written a lesson on self-regulation and then in seconds have become dysregulated when my own kids have pushed my buttons. I know these strategies, and with practice (meditation has helped my ability to respond instead of react) but some of these strategies have taken me years of practice. What can we do now immediately to help families in these times of increased stress to bring in the idea that we can be fully regulated, but become dysregulated quickly if we aren’t trained. 

According to Nickolas Long, “If the adult is neither trained nor prepared to accept their own counter-aggressive feelings, the adult will act on them, in effect mirroring the student’s behavior.” (Ch 2)

Q4- I was shocked when I heard Dr. Perry[ii] talking about the vulnerability in the population that can occur when we are exposed to prolonged stress response. I first learned about the impact of stress on the brain and learning from you. Dr. Perry brought in the research from families from the Katrina Disaster in 2005 and how the research shows that the offspring of those families exposed to this level of stress response had an increase of substance abuse issues. That made me stop and think of how important and timely your work is right now, not only before we had the COVID-19 outbreak, but what about AFTER this time, for those marginalized families? Can you dive deeper into why an understanding of our brain is so important right now?  Do you have thoughts or plans on how to reach families in need of these strategies?  

Thank you so much for all you have done to support us here at Achieveit360 to learn about educational neuroscience. If anyone wants to reach Dr. Lori Desautels, please do reach out to via email to [email protected] and via her website at http://revelationsineducation.com/ 

REFERENCES:

[i] Neuroscience Meets SEL Podcast EPISODE #16 with Dr. Lori Desautels and Michael McKnight on “The Future of Educational Neuroscience in our Schools and Communities.” https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/lori-desautels-and-michael-mcknight-on-the-future-of-educational-neuroscience-in-our-schools-and-communities/

[ii] https://www.neurosequential.com/covid-19-resources